31st Aug 2009, 01:40

I own a 98 4-cylinder Magna with 340k's, yet it still drives well! At 250k the auto died so I replaced it with a low mileage second hand one and now that has died as well. I'm really disappointed!

I installed a big oil cooler when the gearbox was changed last time as that was recommended or no warranty. It didn't run out of oil. It seems like the gearboxes are just not up to it! The estimate to rebuild a Magna gearbox was approx $3000, which is more than the car is worth so I guess it's a throw away job :-)

31st May 2010, 12:09

I've had a 1996 TE Magna for just over 5 years now. I've done approximately 200000 relatively trouble free kms in it till now. It's got 340000kms on the clock and now is starting to have problems with very rough idle when selecting drive or reverse. On the highway it runs fine. Could be many things causing this, so not blaming the auto transmission straight away. Have heard of people replacing the transmission, only to find out it was a faulty sensor.

Only other problem I've ever had was the car suddenly died on a remote outback highway at 3am. It had an intermittent miss during the journey and the engine warning light would come on and Id pull over and check oil and water etc, everything OK. After turning the motor off, it would start fine and run perfectly for a 100km, then the same problem returned till it finally died.

Wasn't any fault of the car. This time it was human error. I had the timing belt and water pump replaced before I went out west. They left the wire going to the crank angle sensor hanging a bit loose and it eventually rubbed against the water pump pulley behind the timing cover, and shorted out. Basically the car didn't know where no 1 piston was at, so no timing, no start till we relocated and insulated the offending wire. Worth checking with those ones that won't start etc.

This car also tows my 16ft half cabin boat effortlessly. Many people joke about a front wheel drive vehicle on the boat ramp, but my driving wheels are usually in the dry part of the ramp, so no spinning tyres etc that you see with the rear wheel drive versions.

One other thing I like about the car, I constantly get 750kms out of a 60 litre tank of fuel on a long trip, and once did just over 800kms when I missed a fuel station, driving it from Newcastle to just north of the Gold Coast without refueling. Not bad for a powerful 6 cylinder engine.

Anyway just thought Id share my experience with ownership in case it gives others some idea. Another thing, make sure to replace water hoses. I had one blow in the rain and it overheated, all I noticed was no hot air going through the heater before it died. Heads were already warped and spent a couple of Weeks fixing it under a tree, cost around $2000 to fix. The engine is tough, hasn't used any oil since replacing the head gaskets and having the heads straightened.

21st Jun 2010, 02:50

Yeah, I have a TE Magna 3.0 auto. It runs really well. I bought it with 186k on the clock, and it was going fine, but had a really bad violent shudder on the highway and felt like it was going to run off the road. I had the driveshafts replaced and it fixed the problem and is now running great. :)

6th Sep 2010, 01:08

I also have a Magna TE 96 V6 Altera and someone said a couple of comments before me that they get about 750 out of a tank 60 L. I fill up mine, not with e10 crap which burns quicker, and on a highway trip I push 450 kms out of a full tank. Is there anything I can do to increase that?

Also I have a starting problem aswell. Most of the time it is fine, but every couple of weeks or so it would crank over but not fire up.

16th Sep 2010, 00:09

My Auto TE 96 Magna has run in my family since it was brand new in December 96, originally my dad's, now mine.

We have had few problems with it, only the handbrake squealing and since about 290000 kms, the whole car will shake followed by a stall if I'm fully stopped without letting it drop to 1st gear.

It reads something like 368000 kms on it now and for the last month or so its needed to warm up completely before it will run otherwise it won't change gears smoothly, it will shake and the revs go wild, up and down whilst the car shudders.

I've read all the above comments and it could be any one of the solutions listed.

So, specifically, any ideas?

Thanks guys :)

Apart from these problems the car is awesome, tough engine with heaps of cabin space.

29th Sep 2010, 06:47

We have a TE Magna, when it works it goes great, but like any old car with 250000 km, one thing starts to fail after another. It is real cheap to run on gas. They are just not the easiest cars to repair yourself.

30th Oct 2010, 22:32

To those who are having the car fail to start, I've had the same intermittent problem for about 2 years (1996 TE Magna Advance).

The symptoms are, that the car will continue to crank and not fire. The RACV said that there was spark, but no fuel, and thought it was the fuel pump. With this problem, if you turn the key to the on position without starting the car, the engine warning light will remain on after the SRS and seatbelt lights turn off.

After lots of research, the main cause seems to be the connector to the key ring antenna. When this fails, the immobiliser does not see the correct key, and won't start the car (by cutting out the fuel pump relay). It also seems to happen more often in warmer weather (+20C).

I have read that someone has fixed many cars by cutting the key ring antenna connector off, and soldered the wires direct. Today I did this myself, and seems to be OK, but I will continue to test.

29th Nov 2010, 07:23

Can the person above who mentions they soldered the key ring antenna directly please tell me if they were successful? I also have the same problem which plays up in warmer weather. I have been quoted $1200 by an auto electrician to fix the problem, so I'd obviously rather go with this option if it works.

17th Mar 2011, 06:03

I also have had problems restarting a hot TE 2.4 litre Magna Auto... So far it has cost me @ $600 to change the fuel pump, filters and had an auto electrician go over it a number of times. The problem is no fuel injector impulse! An intermittant problem exists between or in the immobiliser and / to the ECU module. Pinning the problem down is virtually impossible unless your auto electrician has a lot of free time on his hands.

Next step to change immobiliser and ECU... Key sensing antenna is not the problem in my case!